Taking the gavel: Reed steps into role of town moderator

For Karlen Reed, the end of Acton’s Annual Town Meeting was not a conclusion. It was the moment her new role officially began.

For the first time in a decade, the town has a new moderator. 

As the final gavel came down and the annual gathering came to a close, Carmin Reiss passed the responsibility of overseeing the meeting to Reed. In the hours leading up to that transition, Reed said she felt the anticipation.

“I’m waiting. I’m pacing,” she said before this week’s proceedings began. “I have my three outfits for each night all set out.”

That anticipation gave way to a different awareness once the debate was underway.

“I’m a little more nervous than I was earlier,” Reed said during the meeting, “because I see the rapid judgment calls that [Reiss] has to do on the floor and being able to identify when a speaker is going off on a tangent and when an important point needs to be said.”

The lead-up carried its own intensity. In the days before Town Meeting, Reed found herself mentally running through possible scenarios, thinking through how each night might unfold.

“I got about four hours of sleep,” she said. “I was so eager to start this and thinking about what’s going to happen each night.”

But that doesn’t make her less confident in her choice to pursue the role, for which she ran unopposed. 

“I’ve done complicated programs and projects before,” she said. 

Before Town Meeting started, Reed was learning about her new position. 

Reiss “allowed me to be part of operational team meetings that have occurred,” she said, “giving me hints on how to handle certain situations, and including me in the general thought process leading up to Town Meeting for well over the past month.”

Now, with her first meeting cycle behind her as moderator-elect, the focus shifts quickly to what comes next. Reed said her immediate priorities include reviewing feedback from residents through a Town Meeting survey and working with other officials to set the calendar for 2027.

‘Their fair turn’

Beyond that, she is already thinking longer term, planning on a three- to five-year horizon for how Town Meeting may evolve, whether that be through remote participation or more streamlining like the clickers now in use. 

Even as she looks ahead, Reed returns to the core of the role. She said it will place her at the center of Acton’s civic life, though often out of the spotlight. 

“My job,” she said, “is to maintain a sense of order, calm, and make sure everyone gets their fair turn.”